


Interlude: The First Photo

by Zakad



Series: All My Ghosts are at Rest [5]
Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: Family Feels, Family Secrets, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 23:46:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18303998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakad/pseuds/Zakad
Summary: There are two secrets surrounding Naruto. One is that he's the vessel of the Nine-Tailed Fox. The other is the identity of his birth parents.Kakashi knows both of these things and if not for the Hokage's orders against it, would tell Naruto the latter in a heartbeat. Kakashi is an extremely talented shinobi. He knows how to find a work-around. He just wasn't expecting all the crying.





	Interlude: The First Photo

In Naruto's house, there is a wall covered in pictures.

Most of the pictures are photographs of Naruto, Ichigo, and Uryū or some combination of the three engaged in different activities. As Naruto grows older, Sasuke starts to crop up more often. Then Sakura suddenly materializes in almost every photo. But there are other faces too.

Iruka appears as a frequent guest. Naruto's classmates feature in snapshots of parties in the backyard. In another, Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame, hold a banner proclaiming "#1 Customer" over Naruto's head. There's a candid photo of the Hokage looking dubiously at the contents of a bowl Naruto is trying to press on him.

Some pictures don't feature Naruto at all. In one such picture, Uryū adjusts Ichigo's stance as he holds a bow. The former, clearly lecturing, the latter, looking aggrieved. Sakura together with her parents beam proudly from their own photograph. In contrast, a young Fugaku and Mikoto Uchiha stand solemnly in a formal wedding picture.

Kakashi's gaze can't help but be drawn to the most recent addition, a photograph of the newly minted Team 7. All four of them are smiling into the camera. Even Sasuke, who at the time was still reeling from hearing the story of Kakashi's sharingan, manages a small grin.

"Do you have a photo of your genin team, Kakashi-sensei?" asks Naruto.

"I heard you were a genius who graduated early," add Sasuke. "Were you even on a genin team?"

"How old were you when graduated?" presses Sakura.

"Give the man a chance to answer," says Sakura's mother.

Kakashi sends her a grateful glance. "I graduated the Academy at age 5."

There's a loud clang from the kitchen. Every head turns in that direction listening for sounds of a follow-up attack.

"Sorry! I dropped the teakettle," calls Kurosaki-san.

"I was slotted into an open position on a genin team," continues Kakashi. "I made chunin at 6 but stayed with my team because of my age."

Ishida-sensei frowns. It's a small expression but conveys unmistakable remonstration. The kids can't see it while they're facing Kakashi, but the jounin and Sakura's parents do.

"That was war," says Sakura's father. Civilian families don't lose their children to war— though there is  _always_  an uptick in civilian applications to the Academy in wartime—but they sacrifice almost everything else.

Ishida-sensei smooths his face into a serene mask and says nothing.

Kakashi can't use chakra-fluctuations to help him assess the doctor's mood, but in this case body language alone is enough. Ishida-sensei does not accept "war" as a valid reason to promote a six-year-old to chunin. Kakashi chooses not to mention at what age he became jounin.

"To answer your question, Naruto, it's traditional in Leaf for all genin teams to take a photo, even in wartime, so yes I have one of them," says Kakashi.

"You should make a copy and we can add it to the family wall," says Naruto.

Kakashi thinks about it. In other circumstances, he would feel uncomfortable sharing a very personal memento of his deceased teammates. But Kakashi wants to see a picture of Minato-sensei on this wall with Naruto, almost desperately so. His only regret is that he can't give them a photo of Minato-sensei and Kushina together.

Kakashi's gaze falls on Sasuke, and inspiration strikes. Sandaime might be upset when he finds out, but Kakashi's already grounded with a genin team.

"Sasuke, do you think you can find a picture of your mother's genin team?" asks Kakashi.

Sasuke blinks in surprise. "Mom's team? There should be one in the photo book at the Main House."

Kakashi knows from ANBU surveillance that Kurosaki and Sasuke go to the Uchiha Compound to train, but unless there's a credible threat to the village, ANBU aren't allowed to spy on clan property. Not even Danzo can argue that a single child—who is not the Kyuubi jinchūriki—is a credible threat to Konoha's safety. It sounds like some time during those visits, Sasuke has come to terms with returning to the place of his parents' murder. That's good. Kakashi still hates to visit the house he shared with his father.

"If Sasuke brings the photo of his mother's team, then I'll bring mine," says Kakashi.

Sakura's parents look baffled yet amused by the eccentricities of their daughter's newest teacher. Ishida-sensei looks suspicious. Kakashi mentally pats himself on the back for a neat solution to a thorny problem and ignores the brats' whines.

It takes some time, but Sasuke eventually secures the photograph in question. Kakashi pops back to his apartment and grabs a copy of his original team, framed and ready to hang ever since their discussion, then heads back to Naruto's house.

Kakashi has already explained how he came by his sharingan eye, but the kids are happy to put faces to names. Sasuke searches Obito's face for traces of familiarity. Naruto cracks a grin at tiny five-year-old Kakashi. Sakura's the one to recognize the Fourth Hokage, and it takes the kids awhile to calm down when they realize they're part of the teaching-lineage of Kages.

Finally, Sasuke produces the photo Kakashi tasked him to find. It's in a new frame, and Kakashi is glad to see it is going on the wall even without the information he is about to share.

"Who are they?" asks Sasuke. It's his mother's team. It makes sense for him to ask.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura are leaning in close. Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei are in the room but not paying close attention to the conversation. Kurosaki has a pile of papers in front of him and is working on a chemical formula. Ishida is embroidering a shirt at lightning fast speed.

Kakashi points to the jounin instructor first. "This is Kanae. She was taijutsu specialist and a contemporary of the Sannin."

"The who?" asks Naruto.

"Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru earned the title of the Legendary Three Ninja during the Second Shinobi war," explains Kakashi.

"Jiraiya's the name of the guy who wrote my favorite book,  _The Tale of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi_ ," says Naruto. "He was really a shinobi?"

"He is still a shinobi but he writes...adult books now. I'm surprised you managed to a copy of his first one," says Kakashi.

"I think it was a gift?" suggests Naruto.

"From Sandaime Hokage-sama," confirms Kurosaki.

Kakashi keeps his face neutral. Of course, Sandaime would be the one to gift Naruto with Jiraiya's book. Kakashi feels much better about the picture if the Hokage skirted that close to breaking his own proclamation.

"Are the other two Sannin still alive?" asks Sakura.

"Do they write books too?" asks Naruto.

"Tsunade is a legend in the hospital. She single-handedly revolutionized the field of medical jutsu. I understand that she's retired from active duty," says Ishida-sensei. "I don't remember hearing anything about Orochimaru."

Kakashi hums thoughtfully. "Orochimaru left the village shortly before you and Kurosaki-san arrived, sensei. He was conducting unethical experiments and chose to flee rather than face charges."

The kids are not impressed by this bit of history, but it causes Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei to raise their heads and stare at Kakashi. The civilian definition of unethical and the shinobi definition of unethical begin at at very different places, and they know it.

"So who are the rest, other than Sasuke's mom?" asks Naruto dragging them back on track.

"And why is it an all-girls team?" asks Sakura.

"This was Team 7 at the time, and it followed the pattern established by the Sannin of placing the best overall shinobi, best kunoichi, and worst overall shinobi graduate on one team," says Kakashi.

A stunned silence meets his words as the kids process his explanation, but eventually the dam breaks.

Sasuke huffs and crosses his arms. "That's a terrible way of assigning teams."

"The best overall shinobi can be a girl? Why did no one tell us that!" demands Sakura.

Naruto yells, "I was  _not_  the worst in our class!"

"It's rare for kunoichi-in-training to surpass their male classmates in taijutsu, but it does happen," says Kakashi to Sakura. The advantages of coming from a Clan aren't limited to larger chakra reserves and inherited jutsu.

He glances at Naruto. "Hokage-sama assigns teams based on the Academy instructors' recommendations. Your friendship with Sasuke and Sakura was deemed more important than following the Sannin model."

Kakashi shifts his gaze to Sasuke. "The Sannin were Sandaime's students and famous for their teamwork throughout all of the Elemental Countries. Konoha has hoped to reproduce a team of their caliber ever since."

Sakura still looks livid. Sasuke continues to be skeptical. But Naruto, at least, looks mollified. Kakashi grins beneath his mask and moves his hand to hover over the picture.

"Uchiha Mikoto, best overall shinobi."

From the corner of his eye, Kakashi can see Sasuke's chest puff with pride. Sasuke's father and brother are more famous in the village-at-large for obvious reasons, but Sasuke's mother is remembered by shinobi for her own talents.

Kakashi shifts his fingers slightly. "Hyuuga Hiyori, best overall kunoichi."

"Oh, that's Hinata's mom," says Naruto easily.

Kakashi moves his hand again careful not to cover Kushina's face. "Just to be clear, she threw the rankings to end up on Mikoto's team. Her name is Uzumaki Kushina."

For the second time, Kakashi's team is stunned into silence. But this time, even the squeak of needle through cloth and scratch of pencil on paper have quieted. Four pairs of eyes lock onto Kakashi. The fifth, Naruto, fixes on the photograph.

Naruto takes a deep, shuddering breath and asks, "That's my mom?"

"I can't talk about that." It pains Kakashi to say the words, but he can't risk being removed from Team 7 and placed back in ANBU.

Until this very moment, half of Kakashi wanted to go back and lose himself in ANBU and a very small part of him still does. But masked as Dog, Kakashi would never be able to share anything about Naruto's parents or the good memories of Sasuke's brother or even tell Sakura the history of the village's kunoichi. Now Kakashi wants to do all of that, even though he still thinks he's a terrible choice for a jounin-instructor.

Naruto glances up at Kakashi in confusion. "But…"

Sakura practically flattens Naruto in her haste to hug him. Sasuke has to brace him from the other side.

"Of course, that's your mom!" Sakura yells into his. "Kakashi-sensei didn't make Sasuke go to through his parents stuff for a picture of  _Hinata's_  mom!"

"That's your mom," says Sasuke. "She's got your fat face. Ow!"

Sakura glares at Sasuke and threatens to punch him again. Sasuke rolls his eyes.

"Obviously that's your mom, she looks like you," says Sasuke.

"That's my mom," says Naruto.

Kakashi realizes he has not thought this through when he sees tears form in the corners of Naruto's eyes. The only tears Kakashi can deal with are Gai's and even his tolerance for those has limits.

"Good talk," says Kakashi springing to his feet. "I have to go… feed my dogs. Meet tomorrow morning at the usual training ground."

Kurosaki-san is abruptly at his side. "I'll walk you out, Kakashi-sensei."

Kurosaki-san escorts Kakashi to the front door in silence, but as Kakashi slips on his outdoor shoes, he says, "You're going to need to work on that."

Kakashi winces. "I do most of my work with adults." That's a terrible excuse as genin, his students are legally considered adults in the eyes of the village. "There's not a lot of crying in the field."

"Of course, there's no crying in the field! That's dangerous," says Kurosaki-san. "Crying or yelling or doing other emotional processing stuff is for you're when at home, when you're physically safe."

Kakashi stares at him blankly. He's spent most of his career thinking of himself as a tool for the village. Tools do not process their emotions.

" _Of course, they're all messed up, Ichigo. What else did you expect?"_  says Kurosaki-san in the strange indecipherable language he shares with Ishida-sensei.

He sighs heavily and looks at Kakashi. "You'll get better with practice. Just do anything other than bail. If you have to, pretend they're upset clients and you're responsible for their safety."

"Normally, clients are upset because I've killed people in front of them," says Kakashi.

Kurosaki-san thinks about it. "They'll probably be upset about that the first time too. But, normally they'll want to act tough in front of you, so it should be a while before you see tears again."

Kakashi sends a fervent prayer of thanks to whoever is listening and reminds himself to check-in with T&I and pick up one of their pamphlets on regaining mental equilibrium after a kill.

"Thank you for the advice, Kurosaki-san," says Kakashi as he slides open the door. He wouldn't accept advice from civilian about being a shinobi, but a jounin-instructor is responsible for more than that, and Kakashi is well-aware of his own deficiencies.

Kurosaki-san looks away gazing back toward the sitting room and it's wall of photos.

"I know you spend a lot of time at the Memorial Stone, Kakashi-sensei," he says. "Can you tell me how the names are listed?"

Kakashi tenses. He has never seen Kurosaki at the Memorial Stone, but Kakashi doesn't spend all of his time there no matter what people say. "They're listed chronologically. New names are added as shinobi die in service to the village."

"But there's an exception," says Kurosaki carefully. He's still looking toward the inside of the house. If any ANBU are watching the front door, then they wouldn't be able to read his lips. "The night the Kyuubi attacked the village, so many people died that names were added to the Memorial Stone in alphabetical order. However, family members' names were placed together."

Kakashi is frozen in the doorway. He's an obvious target and the longer he stays in one place the more vulnerable he becomes to attack.

"Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina's names are written next to each other on the Memorial Stone," says Kurosaki-san, a final nail in the coffin.

Kakashi says nothing. It's an S-Rank secret, and Kurosaki's not the one who deserves to know. Teaching-lineage isn't the only claim Naruto has on the line of Kages, but it's the only one he's allowed to know about for now.

"That's all Ishida and I ever hear when we ask about Naruto's parents," says Kurosaki-san. "Have a good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei."

The next time Kakashi finds himself inside Naruto's house, Kakashi's eyes are drawn to a collection of pictures. Three generations of Team 7 hang proudly from the wall in a tight cluster. In true shinobi fashion, they double as a tiny, subversive family tree. Someday, Kakashi will give Naruto a picture of both of his parents together, and they will smile brightly at him from the wall, but for now this is enough.

**Author's Note:**

> However it might have happened in canon, for the purposes of this story I decided that it makes more sense for Kakashi to have joined an already established team under Minato than for two different people to be added to Minato and Kakashi's master-apprentice relationship.
> 
> Also, we don't know who Mikoto and Kushina's third teammate was or what their team number was, so I made up even more stuff. But that's what fanfiction is for.
> 
> Thanks for reading. Please review!


End file.
